Field Project Raises Troubling Questions

August 09, 1999|By PETER MARTEKA; Courant Staff Writer

HADDAM — Who should pay for cost overruns on a $395,000 project to build athletic fields along Jail Hill and Church Hill roads?

That is the question facing the board of finance Wednesday after it was revealed last week that more ledge was discovered, and that First Selectman Keith Ainsworth has signed a contract with Xenelis Construction Co. Inc. of Middlefield that was about $50,000 more than voters approved at a town meeting.

Now the board of selectmen is heading back to the board of finance to request $104,070; of that amount, $80,000 is for rock ledge removal. The rest is for engineering services. That amount could reach $155,000 if the board also needs to provide the $50,000 that was added to the $345,000 authorized for the project at a town meeting.

``There's a lot of questions we need answered,'' said Ed Schwing, a board of finance member who discovered the discrepancy between the $345,000 authorized and the $395,000 awarded to Xenelis Construction.

``No town official should be able to enter into a contract in excess of the appropriation,'' Schwing said. ``It's against state statutes and town charter. It bothers us that the selectmen went ahead and overstepped their boundaries.''

Ainsworth was on vacation last week and could not be reached for comment. Neither Selectman Mark Dubois nor Michael Jordan returned phone calls Friday.

Former Selectman Walter Czaja called on the whole board to resign.

``What happens in the private sector when people misappropriate money? They are fired or resign,'' he said.

The town is building two fields for softball and one for soccer on a 14.5-acre site leased to the town by the state for $1 a year. Work began on the controversial project last spring.

The board of finance will address the matter at 7:30 p.m. at the old town hall. The guests at the meeting will include nearly everyone involved in the project: the clerk of the works, the board of selectmen, town engineer, Xenelis Construction officials, architects and the town attorney.

If the board decides it needs to appropriate more money, the request will have to be approved at a town meeting scheduled for Sept. 1.